From Fearful to Fearless: The Secret to Scaling Your Business With Heart

Speaker A: Hey, everyone. Nick here from cbg. I hope you guys are having a super awesome day. So today I am very excited and humbled to be joined by the awesome Sheri Phillips. Sheri, thank you so much for jumping on today. How is your week going so far?

Speaker B: It is amazing. Always. It's always a good week.

Speaker A: You're always such a positive person, and I just love that. We. We had a conversation last week where you were talking about, um, you mentioned. I hope you don't mind me saying this, but you mentioned about. I have so much time and I love what you talk about. We'll come on to that in a bit. We're going to drop a little hook there for people, hopefully. So what I'd love you to do, if you don't mind, I'm sure lots of people already know you and your background, but for those that don't, tell us a little bit about your background and what you specialize in, if you don't mind.

Speaker B: Sure. So, um, I actually started off with degrees in business and finance, and I kind of stumbled into child care, uh, when I had my kiddos, because I wanted to, you know, be with my children. And, you know, uh, it was hard to be that stay at home parent when you, uh, have that burn to keep moving. And so I, um, went back to school, and I obtained degrees in education and higher degrees in education and just kept moving forward. Um, I worked for a child care center for a short period of time and, uh, learned everything that you would not want to do if you owned a child care center. Um, which was probably the best two years learning years of my life.

Speaker A: Okay.

Speaker B: Yeah. I honestly. How do you. How do you have the most growth ever in your life? And that's through pain. Right. And so it was fantastic. And from there, um, I met this wonderful woman. Her name is Kathy. And, um, Kathy just had this passion for early childhood, and it just kind of, like, lit me up and invigorated me. And so Kathy is still with me to this day.

Speaker A: Wow.

Speaker B: Over 25 years later. Yeah. Wow.

Speaker A: That's awesome.

Speaker B: So.

Speaker A: So, uh, she gave you that inspiration to then what, go and open your first location? Was that how it worked?

Speaker B: Okay, so just to even stick with it, because when I was dipping my toe in the water, it was kind of like, let's see if I like this. I get to bring my kiddos to work with me every day, you know? But it was watching the way that Kathy moved in that room with such purpose. And even. Even in her interview, you know, she came with this Backpack full of things. And I tell the story all the time. She had this thing called a feely can. And it was a can that had felt and inside you put different objects. And she pulled these things out of her backpack during her interview, like magic tricks. And I remember, uh, feeling so just like, drawn to her and, and all of the things that I learned by watching her move those two years really just kind of inspired me to keep moving and growing and becoming a Miss Kathy.

Speaker A: Wow, that's awesome. And, uh, the fact that she's still with you now 25 years later, that's just an amazing story. I'd love to, you know, know a little bit more about what. What really, what do you feel was that driving force behind it? Was it just her passion for working with children? Is that what it was?

Speaker B: I think it's Kathy's passion for life. Kathy's passion for just everything. Passion for just truly being so good. She's one of those people that you meet that at her core, she is just like pure light.

Speaker A: Wow. Okay.

Speaker B: She brings you in. She is a child whisperer, an adult lover. There's just. There's nothing about Kathy that you can say, you know, anything negative about, and she just makes you want to be the best version of you, whether you're 2, 5 or 30.

Speaker A: Hey, I'm sorry to interrupt your content right now, but I wanted to give you this quick message. If you're enjoying this amazing content from all these amazing coaches and speakers around the world, I want to encourage you to go and check out ecemastery.com. i promise you it's going to be a big game m changer for you and all your team. There are over 60 different coaches from all around the world to help you to grow your early childhood education business. Now, if you haven't checked it out, go and check it out right now. I promise you it'll be a big game changer. Now let's get right back into the content. I love that. And over the years, if you don't mind me asking, I know we didn't plan to talk about this, but over the years that you've worked with her, have you tried to find more Kathy's along the way or is that Cath? Yeah. Okay, so she kind of created that perfect, ideal avatar. Yeah, the unicorn that, you know, sounds so amazing. That is really hard to find. And, um, do you. Do you feel that's actually helped you in terms of your growth as well, fight, you know, knowing that that was, I guess that if you hadn't found her in the first place, you wouldn't know what exceptional was. Is that right? Maybe. Would that be fair? Yeah.

Speaker B: Okay. Probably not, because I've been lucky enough to work with some truly amazing individuals. Um, I mean, we have wonderful men and women that work with us. Um, but what's so wonderful about having a Kathy is that you have someone. You have that role model, you have that person that can now spend time with the people that you need to move up, the people that you need to coach. You know, so oftentimes we're, you know, we run around as leaders, and we're trying to put out those fires in those classrooms and, you know, just give simple solutions to the behaviors and all of those things. But I'm lucky enough to have a Kathy who's cultivated so many other great leaders and helped me cultivate so many other great leaders, and she can step into those classrooms and spend days in those classrooms with those leaders that are struggling and help them. Some of these younger girls, you know, they don't understand the value of a simple song. You know, they just move differently in a classroom than we used to move in a classroom. And so Kathy brings that old school let's, you know, sit down and sing. Did you hear that? Did you hear that? Do you hear the doggies barking? There's no doggies barking. But, you know, Kathy's got everyone listening.

Speaker A: She's got the imagination, and she's bringing it to life.

Speaker B: She invokes all of that, and she. She brings that in, and she has such a way about her that the teachers want to learn from her and they want to listen and they respect her. And so finding your Kathy and cultivating your Kathy is what we all need to be doing, uh, no matter what industry you're in.

Speaker A: I love that. Well, that leads us perfectly on to you talking about CBG Live. I'm super excited to have you come along. Tell us, if you don't mind, the topic that you're going to be talking about and why you chose this particular topic.

Speaker B: So I'm going to be talking about moving from fear to fearless. Um, and the reason that I picked this topic originally, I was going to talk about something different. And yet last week when we got. I was like, what about this? Um, so the reason that I picked this is that I feel like I'm talking to so many leaders and I'm coaching so many leaders, and they're all in this place of fear. Everyone is stuck in this place of being afraid. Afraid to terminate that employee that's calling off all the time afraid to, you know, make decisions that they feel like are going to have an adverse effect on them. Instead of taking a step back and going, you're afraid to let this person go because you're afraid you're going to be in the room, but you're in the room anyway.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And that fear is keeping them from moving in a way that they want to move and leading in the way that they want to lead and growing their company in the way that they want to grow their company. And it kind of made me start to think about where I was six years ago. And I was stuck in a place of fear. And the reason that I was stuck in that place of fear, I was diagnosed with, uh, a serious illness, um, that once you hear that word, you think, it's over, I'm done for. Um, and I started thinking, I have no time, I have no time left. You know, what am I going to do? And I started really thinking about time. That kind of became like a little obsession of mine. Um, and I started going, I remember being young and thinking, man, that 30 year old is old, you know, um, but then when you're 30, you think, man, I'm so young. But when you're 46 and you think your time might be over, you start to think about how you spent that time and what you did with that time and who you impacted during that time. And now I'm 51 and I am like, I have so much time. Like, I feel so good about time. I. Even if it's just 20 years or, uh, five years or three days, like it's gonna be the best thing. Three days, five years, 20 years, whatever that it can possibly be. Because I am surrounding myself by the most amazing people who literally make my time worth living.

Speaker A: Yeah.

Speaker B: And they invest in me and I invest in them. And then you start thinking about fear and you go, the number one reason I feel like people don't achieve the things that they want to achieve is because of fear. They're afraid that they're going to fail. They're afraid that if they let that person go that they're not going to be able to complete the things in the office because they have to be in the classroom, you know, and all of the decisions that they're making are based on things that once you put that fire out next week, you're gonna be in so much of a better place. You know, you're gonna start to see the light at the end of the tunnel. But because we can't step away from the Fear. That's how we lead. And the fear keeps us at a standstill, and it creates excuses.

Speaker A: So I love the fact you touched on that. And I think you and I, we spoke about this last week where we were touching on, for example, there was an example of someone that said to me, I won't be able to come to CBG Live because I've got a new director. I've been training them for the last two months, and I'm still going to be training them 90 days or so from now. What was your thoughts around that, ah, comment that I made when you. When we spoke about this last week?

Speaker B: You've hired the wrong director. You've hired the wrong director. Um, if you're not confident after 60 days of training that new director for 60 days, that she can't hold down the fort for you three months from now, you need to reevaluate. Um, and the thing is, is that if you don't, as a leader, as a human being, if you don't invest in yourself, no one will. And the number one thing that I did for myself in my professional career was to find a community of people that invested in me and I invested in them. Those are people that you can pick up the phone on a good day, on a bad day, you can send them your crazy memes. You can, you know, you celebrate their wins, they celebrate yours. But when you're stuck, you can call them when you don't know what the answer to the question is, because oftentimes we don't. They are there to tell you what they would do. And I have been fortunate enough to find some amazing people in my professional career that are, uh, my Fauna friends that are, you know, my solid rocks. We now go to each other's children's weddings. We celebrate every little thing that happens in each other's lives. Um, and it is something that you will not find in another industry. You just won't. The heart in our industry is amazing.

Speaker A: Do you know, I love the fact that you said that. And there's two really strong points I want to make that kind of go alongside that, ask your opinion. On M Pre Covid, we lived in a world where if you went to local events, people would often. I'm not saying this was in your area, but there's definitely a lot of areas out there where people kept themselves to themselves. They wouldn't share ideas, they wouldn't talk about, you know, other things to help each other out. We then moved into Covid. Obviously, people started helping each other more, and I Feel that we're starting to see again, uh, a, uh, decline there, where people are going very much back to, I'm not supporting people, etc. Now, I know you've had a very different experience of this. Would you mind just touching on your experience where you're at and the community that is local to you and your business?

Speaker B: Sure. So, you know, you have to think about how you want to move. And I'm going to tell you right now, um, you didn't invent the wheel. None of us did. The handbooks, all of the things, none of us have invented the wheel. Whether or not you're giving a student discount and the person down the street is not giving his student discount doesn't matter. If someone reaches out to you and says, can you share your handbook with me? Share your handbook with them. Why would you not? How do you want to be remembered? What kind of leader do you want to be? And you're not just leading your team, but you're leading your community. You're leading your community of educators, you're leading your community of schools. And if you don't share that, they're going to get it one way or another. They're going to send someone in for a top secret tour and just waste your time, you know, so you might as well just be the good person coming from a good place, trying to help your industry be the best industry that it could be. I don't gatekeep, I don't share or I share. I don't gatekeep. I share everything. I just did a conference for New York aeyc and I stood up there and I said, here is all of my documentation. Here's my, here's the scan code, here's the contact information. You reach out to me and I will send it to you. And I did. When they reached out, I sent it. Because whether they screenshot it on the screen and go back and recreate it, or you share it, it's how you choose to move and how you choose to be as a person. And I want people to remember me as the leader who cared enough about other people to help them and to be supportive. Because there were people who helped and supported me. Without my good friends Tim Smith, you know, without Rachel Zappala, without my good group of people, I wouldn't be in the seat that I am today because it was their feedback that helped me grow my business the way that I needed to grow it.

Speaker A: And I was just going to touch on that. I know that you, you've never done this from a point of giving because you want to get anything in return. But is there a specific example where you feel, or just a generic example where you feel because you gave, that you actually found that you've got more back in abundance because you have generally been given from your heart and soul? Do you. You talked about Tim there, you talked about Rachel, you know, great individuals, you know, industry leaders, and you never went out there because you wanted to get from them, but you gave to help them. They've helped you in return. Is there any examples where you can see that that's paid dividend for you over the years? I'm sure it has. Several times.

Speaker B: Of course. Of course. So I've created a little local group of owners that, you know, we're in a text chain and we reach out to each other and we help each other. And, you know, there are, there are some that I've watched start from, uh, family childcare in their home, and now they have multiple locations and they reach out and they ask for help and, and. But what's wonderful is that now I reach out to them sometimes and ask them what their opinion is. So our schools don't. My schools don't have UPK programs in them, but there's a woman, Emily, and her schools have UPK programs in them. And because we've created, uh, an, uh, environment where we share and we share freely and we share from the heart, I can reach out to Emily. And Emily's like, yeah, I got your back, girl. Let me give you all the information. Here are emails that I sent when I was inquiring about it. You know, it's. You might not ever think that you're going to need anything from them because you think, well, I've been, uh, doing this for 25 years and I know all the things, uh, and they've only been doing it for two. But guess what? They're younger than you are and they have a different mindset than you. And everybody brings value. You never know what you don't know until you don't know you don't know it.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Uh, and that's an important point as well. About. There's two other things I wanted to go into. One that ties in directly to this. We talked about as well, investing in your team. So you've talked about obviously helping local community, other centers, etc. But what's your thoughts around the importance of investing in your team? Because I know we shared an example last week where we touched on someone that said they didn't feel that they had anyone in their team worthwhile investing right now, but they do feel they will have that 12 months from now. What's your thoughts around that?

Speaker B: So I think that's sad that you feel like there's no one on your team that you can invest in, because every single one of those people that work for you and work with you are worth investing in. And if you think that they're going to be worth investing in in 12 months, what is it now that they're lacking, that you feel like they're going to. Or that you're going to cultivate in them in the next 12 months? Um, I think that they're looking at things from a very different perspective, and it sounds very much to me like excuses.

Speaker A: Okay, interesting.

Speaker B: Sounds like fear.

Speaker A: Yeah. You know, fear of what if someone leaves? What if they.

Speaker B: Fear of, I'm going to spend the money and invest in this person and they're going to leave. And you know what? That's going to happen. That's going to happen to you. Um, and it's going to hurt you. There's. There's. There have been people. So I lead from the heart, you know, um, we are our company, our culture is very much based on language of appreciation and really just pouring into people. Um, because to me, that is just really important. Um, and so I pour in in a way that I'm just giving all. I'm giving you everything that I can give you. Um, and so there have been people that I have cultivated, from assistant teachers all the way to directors, supported them while they went through college, helped them achieve and obtain those degrees, you know, spent the years and years getting them where they needed to be, took them to more conferences than I can count on my hands. Um, you know, paid for the planes, played for the trains, paid for all the things. And when they left, I was heartbroken. I was heartbroken. But, you know, nothing is always and nothing is forever. Things change, you know, And. And if you are investing in someone, you have to look at it as I'm investing in the growth of this human being. And for the time that this person is with me, I'm gonna love them, and I'm gonna support them, and I'm gonna pour into them, and they're going to do the same thing for me.

Speaker A: I love that.

Speaker B: Because the more you give, the more you get, right? And when it's time for them to fly, celebrate. Celebrate that you got them. There you were. You didn't do it, but you are part of that journey. So instead of looking at it As I wasted all this money. You didn't. Because the five years of the 10 years that they were with you, uh, they made it so that you could focus on other things. So when it's time for them to leave, celebrate it. Don't be upset about it. We just talked about having so much time and me going, I'm, uh, 51. I have so much time. If I want to reinvent myself right now, I can reinvent myself. So why shouldn't they? If they feel like they need to reinvent, let them reinvent.

Speaker A: Hey, I hope you enjoyed the podcast. We'll get right back to it in a second. Now, if you want to find out about the different ways you can work with us here at Childcare Business Growth, including our coaching programs and our Done for you marketing and staff recruitment program, all you need to do is go over to www.childcarebusinessgrowth.com and you'll find all the links that you need there. I love that. I love that. So from a perspective of, we've touched on a lot of things and I love one of the things you touched on earlier. We live in this world where none of us have really invented anything new. You know, we're all going through the same thing, regardless where we are in the world. We're all running childcare businesses of all types and sizes. What's your perspective around why sometimes people don't take the time out to invest in themselves? For example, we have CBG Live coming up focusing, um, on family owned and operated businesses. Why do you feel sometimes people don't take the time out to work on themselves and their business?

Speaker B: Well, I think fear plays a part in it. Um, the fear of failure. I'm going to pour all of this into this and it's not go. I'm going to pour all this into A, and it's not going to get me B. Um, we also expect miracles. We also expect things to happen overnight and they don't. Real change takes time. And the first step, I don't know. Did you listen to the podcast that I did with Tim?

Speaker A: Yes. Yeah. Yeah.

Speaker B: So the first step and my change in my journey was going to that owners only conference. It was fear that kept me from moving forward, from making change. I literally had to basically, like, throw myself on the airplane and force myself to go. And it was the best thing I ever did in my life. And I'm telling you, everyone who's out there, who's listening right now, if you're on the fence about going, then you should be going if you are saying, I don't know what to do anymore, I feel stuck. Uh, how do I move past this? Whatever your this is, this is your opportunity. This is your sign. This is your divine intervention. Book that ticket, get on the plane, and go meet the people that you need to meet that are going to help you through these seasons and these changes, they're going to fill you up and make you feel like you can take on the world, because you can. You just don't have anyone in your corner telling you that, because you have to be the strong one and you have to be the leader, and you have to show everyone that, you know, nothing phases you. But when you're around your people, that's us, you can be that. Oh, my gosh, I don't know what to do. How do I manage this? How do I do that? Like, these are your people. This is your sign to buy that ticket. And it's not that expensive, believe me. If you go out to dinner several times, you spend more money than this ticket's going to be. So invest in yourself or, you know, go out to eat a few times.

Speaker A: Uh, one of the one things I want to tie into that. What would be if someone goes to any event, because there are some amazing events out there. Just to wrap this up, because I could talk to you forever about this. The value you've given already in 22 minutes is just insane. And when. If you were to go to an event, it was someone's first time, regardless which event they go to, what would be your best advice to them when they go? What should they do?

Speaker B: Oh, this is great. Um, so you need to sit down and really have a conversation with yourself. Uh, make yourself a list of the things that you are really struggling with. If you had three things that you could change that you could, you know, if Nick and his team could wave a magic wand, if anyone stepping on that stage could speak directly to you, what would be the three things that you need help with that you want to walk away with? And I might not stand on that stage, or the seven other people might not stand on that stage and speak about those exact things. But I can promise you, I can guarantee you that you're going to sit at a table, you're going to take the boat ride, you're going to do all the things in those three days where you are going to meet people who will be able to help you with those three things and 30 things more.

Speaker A: Yeah, I love that. Sherry. I could honestly, you've been so amazing. Such value in there. Um, I cannot thank you enough. I'm super excited about your session. I think you're going to deliver a phenomenal amount of value at the event. And make, um, sure if you have any questions. As always, everyone, if there's any questions, put them in the comments down below. I'll make sure we tag Sherry. And as she said, she's always willing to give back and help this awesome community. Put your comments in down below. Put some love in. Show Sherry how much you've enjoyed the session. Sherry, I can't wait to see you. I think we are exactly 63 days out, so I can't wait to see you in Fort Lauderdale.

Speaker B: You're one of my m most favorite people to talk to. I love your energy and just have the best vibes. I could talk to you all day.

Speaker A: Oh, bless you. Thank you. Sher. Can't wait to see you in Fort Lauderdale. Um, and it's only a few months away from now. Thank you for your time again.

Speaker B: Take care. Bye.